Milwaukee Commerce Group Offers Health Insurance Plan to Member Employers
Posted on: Wednesday, 1 December 2004, 21:00 CST
Dec. 2--The Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce has begun offering a health insurance plan called Patient Choice to its member employers, Tim Sheehy, MMAC president said Wednesday.
Sheehy said MMAC offers no other health insurance products to its 2,000 members, mostly small employers with fewer than 50 workers.
Patient Choice entices workers with reduced premiums and out-of-pocket costs if they select lower-priced health-care providers.
Patient Choice has been available in the Milwaukee market since April but sales have been limited to employers with 50 or more employees.
Under MMAC's agreement with Madison-based WPS Health Insurance, which is offering the Patient Choice plan, MMAC-member employers with two to 50 workers will be eligible to purchase the insurance, Sheehy said.
Businesses "have identified escalating health care costs as their No. 1 concern," Sheehy said. Health care costs in the Milwaukee area have historically outpaced the national average, he said.
Employers need to change the way they purchase health care and employees must accept more financial accountability for their use of health care services, Sheehy said.
Health care providers also need to make quality and cost information more accessible to users of health care, he said.
The insurance is only now being offered and no businesses have yet signed up for it, Sheehy said.
Minnesota-based Patient Choice's providers in Milwaukee are Advanced Healthcare, Children's Hospital, Columbia-St. Mary's Physicians Network, Medical Associates Health Centers, Quad-Med, Covenant Healthcare Provider Network and Waukesha Integrated Delivery System, Froedtert Health and Medical College of Wisconsin.
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Source: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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